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25-30% of all divorced parents turn to the State Administration for help, either in connection with their separation and divorce, or at a later point to resolve difficulties concerning their collaboration about their children. In some situations, the case can be solved through advice and guidance, while in other situations, it involves a complex set of serious issues and a high level of conflict between the parents, potentially causing the case to drag on for a long time and involving various authorities, e.g. the district court, the bailiff’s court or the social authorities. The purpose of this study is to show how parental responsibility cases can be categorised appropriately according to their complexity, for example by pinning down relevant risk factors in complex parental responsibility cases. Risk factors are circumstances that may increase the probability of a child being negatively affected by the situation.

The study consists of four sub-analyses:

• A literature review of research on “high-conflict cases” and risk factors for the well-being of children of divorced parents • An empirical analysis, based on a survey of 1,034 parents, categorising cases in the State Administration according to their complexity • A document analysis, based on a review of a small number of very complex parental responsibility cases, that describes when, during a case procedure, information about risk factors emerges, and following this, how the authorities act on such information• A review of experience of the use of screening tools at family law authorities in countries comparable to Denmark.

The study was commissioned and financed by the Ministry for Children and Social Affairs.

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VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd

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VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research provides knowledge that contributes to developing the welfare society and strengthening quality development, efficiency enhancement and governance in the public sector, both in municipalities, regions and nationally.